Professional Selling MKT260

Professional selling is face-to-face persuasive interaction. Sales is part of the marketing mix, falling under the category of PROMOTION. (Remember the four Ps, Product, Price, Place, and Promotion?) You may think sales is just about selling products and services. But we also use sales techniques when we try to persuade someone to behave or think a certain way. Every argument you make is a sales pitch. This paragraph, when I read it out loud to you, is a sales pitch. What have I forgotten to do? There is one question you want to know the answer to before you will be persuaded to believe what I tell you: What’s in it for me?

There are four projects in this course. Each project consists of conducting research, writing a summary of your findings, preparing questions to ask your audience, preparing a proposal, designing a PowerPoint slide presentation (8-15 slides), and presenting your proposal orally. The audience will fill out an evaluation after each presentation. The point of each project is sell the product or idea to your audience by answering the question: What’s in it for them?

Prepare a presentation to sell a tangible product or intangible service to a business or a consumer or group of consumers. Product suggestions: beverages, office supplies, uniforms, computers, cars, cellphones. A service is intangible. It can’t be seen, felt, tasted, touched, or stored. Examples: employment services, dry cleaning, dog training, tutoring, house cleaning, education.

Prepare a proposal and presentation to persuade your supervisor to purchase some product or service that will benefit the company. Examples: Smartphones, upgraded computer systems, office plants or wall art, new copier, new truck.

Prepare a proposal and presentation to persuade your co-workers to take an action or believe in a cause. Some ideas: recycling, avoiding bottled water, using cloth grocery bags, voting for a measure, donating to a non-profit organization, promoting literacy.

Prepare a proposal and presentation to sell your skills, knowledge, and experience as an administrative assistant. Your professional-looking portfolio should include samples of your work, your resume, and a cover letter.

£ SUMMARY
Conduct exploratory research on the Internet so you really understand the product/service/idea and the target market/customer. Write a brief (maximum one page) summary describing the product/service/ idea and customer.

£ SALES APPROACH
In the same document, write a brief explanation of your sales approach, based on your knowledge of the target audience and using the text as your guide. (To think about this, consider how your approach would change with a different audience: Would you sell to children the same way you sell to senior citizens? Would you sell fine wine the same way you sell bottled water?)

£ EXPLORATORY QUESTIONS
Review Module 4 in the text and, using the ADAPT questioning technique, write at least three questions for each phase (Assessment, Discovery, Activation, Projection, and Transition). You will ask these questions of your audience before and during your sales presentation. The answers to these questions will direct your sales approach.

£ SLIDE PRESENTATION
Prepare a 10-20 minute formal sales presentation, with an 8-15 slide PowerPoint slide show and other visual aids if you desire (samples, brochure, etc.). Print the PowerPoint in handout format, 6 on a page, in plain black and white. Make sure you check it for grammar and spelling errors.

£ PROPOSAL
In a formal proposal, write your argument, incorporating what you learned from your presentation. Be sure to list all deliverables, pricing if applicable, and timelines.

Use the Business Report style you learned in Keyboarding II to type the Summary/ Approach/Questions document and the Proposal. The Summary/Approach/ Questions document is due on the day of your presentation. The proposal is due the following week.

Your presentation MUST include interacting with your audience!

Your presentation and proposal MUST include a clear call to action: Close the sale!